Discovery Communications unveiled the Discovery Channel Media Education Center at Poughkeepsie Middle School in New York. Time Warner Cable is also a partner in the project, agreeing to rewire the school to provide high-quality cable access to the school's classrooms. US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Discovery Communications President and CEO Judith A. McHale joined officials from Time Warner Cable and the Poughkeepsie School District at the official opening of the media education center.

Senator Clinton worked with Discovery Communications to encourage the selection of a New York school for this groundbreaking project. The Discovery Channel Media Education Center features a state-of-the-art TV studio that allows students to produce short television programs, exposes them to cutting-edge media technology, and gives teachers the opportunity to explore new ways of educating.

The Broad Foundation announced that Norfolk Public Schools (VA) is the winner of the 2005 Broad Prize for Urban Education, the largest education prize in the country awarded to the most outstanding urban school districts.

As the winner of The Broad Prize, Norfolk Public Schools will receive $500,000, and the four finalists (Aldine Independent School District (TX), Boston Public Schools, New York City Department of Education, and San Francisco Unified School District) will each receive $125,000. This year was the third time Norfolk was a finalist for The Broad Prize, bringing the district's three-year winnings to $750,000.

The $1 million Broad Prize is an annual award honoring the country's urban school districts that are making the great improvements in student achievement, while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The money goes directly to graduating high school seniors for college scholarships.

Georgia Tech's College of Computing Unveils Two New Dell Supercomputing Clusters

The College of Computing at Georgia Tech has installed two Dell high-performance computing clusters (HPCC) at its campus in Atlanta. These supercomputing clusters are made up of 64 and 128 Dell PowerEdge 1850 servers.

The systems provide both dedicated and campuswide resources for Georgia Tech's researchers, whose work has helped the university rank among the nation's top research campuses. Researchers plan to use the systems to study complex problems, including the simulation of aircraft designs and the design of future computer chips.

4GL School Solutions Inc. (4GL) is the recipient of the 2005 EdNET HERO Award that goes to for-profit companies. Presented recently at the 13th annual EdNET Conference in San Diego, CA, the HERO Award recognizes nonprofit and for-profit organizations that have made the most significant positive impact on education through educational technology and telecommunications.

An EdNET finalist for two years running, 4GL won consideration for its Web-based ENCORE! suite of software and service solutions for special populations. ENCORE! helps school districts increase the effectiveness of their programs for special populations by automating time-consuming data collection and reporting processes, and reducing the paperwork burden.

South Carolina School District Selects Scantron's Complete Assessment Solution

Officials at Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five (SC) have selected the Complete Assessment Solution from Scantron—an integrated product that includes Achievement Series and Performance Series—as their choice for formative and diagnostic testing, citing its ability to provide the information needed to help children learn the district curriculum and meet or exceed goals for the state's assessment tests.

Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five is nationally recognized for its ability to improve academic performance. The district will use Performance Series three times per year to assess grade-level proficiency: the fall test will help in student placement, the January test will evaluate student grade-level progress, and the spring test will determine which students could benefit from taking summer school. Achievement Series will be used periodically throughout the year as a benchmark assessment to measure gains against the district curriculum, and as pacing guide

CompassLearning Inc. (http://www.compasslearning.com) has launched the latest addition to its popular Odyssey product suite, CompassLearning Odyssey Matemáticas. The program, which is designed for English-language learners in grades K-4 whose first language is Spanish, is browser-based and customized to meet individual state standards and NCLB mandates. Like its English-language predecessor, Odyssey Mathematics, Matemáticas offers young learners the opportunity to explore the world of math and develop skills through engaging activities; integrates tools such as calculators, notebooks, a glossary, rulers, clocks, protractors, and thermometers; and supports both self-study and teacher-directed learning. Contact the company at (800) 422-4339 for pricing info.

iPrism 4.0, the latest release of St. Bernard Software's (http://www.stbernard.com) Internet filtering appliance, allows network users to guard against Web-based threats by blocking sites that are known to have spyware, malware, or phishing content. It can also prevent the unauthorized use of public IM and P2P file-sharing programs, and provides real-time monitoring and enhanced reporting capabilities that provide immediate visibility of protocol exchange, which can help determine the origin of bandwidth drains or security breaches. iPrism 4.0 has also added kernel-level filtering technology that will help increase the speed with which reports are generated, and allows organizations to create filters that adhere to their acceptable usage policies. Pricing for iPrism, including appliance, subscription, and maintenance, starts at $3,490.

Roving Planet's (http://www.rovingplanet.com) AP Commander uses a continuous configuration and firmware management process to automatically find and manage every access point on a campus WLAN or distributed Wi-Fi environment, and eliminates intrusions by remembering approved settings and making automatic security corrections whenever unauthorized external changes are detected. The solution supports all SNMP-enabled enterprise access points, and optimizes WLAN performance through the centralized management of key access point settings such as encryption method, radio power output, and “channelization.” AP Commander also enables users to choose which configurations to monitor and control from a single console, and provides customizable reports that review all configuration changes and firmware updates in chronological order. It is currently available for Redhat Linux, Mac OS X Server version 10.4, and the Apple Xserve G5 operating systems.

http://www.learnoutloud.comLearnOutLoud.com, which features online resources for audio and video learning materials, has recently launched an expansive directory of handpicked educational and self-development podcasts covering topics such as business, politics, science, and technology. The site also features one-click subscriptions to Apple iTunes, the ability to listen to podcasts via streaming audio, hundreds of user ratings and reviews, and RSS feeds so users can easily locate and download past episodes of a podcast. In addition, educators can sign up on the site to listen to “Audio Learning Revolution” podcasts, which give suggestions for new podcasts and audio books that they can utilize for personal and professional development.

http://www.hotmath.comHotmath.com supports more than 100 middle school, high school, and college math textbooks by providing tutorials, step-by-step solutions, and hints to odd-numbered homework problems so students can complete their homework on time and enter the classroom prepared. The site, which supports math textbooks ranging from sixth-grade to calculus, also features support for students who use graphing calculators, and can be used by schools for about 75 cents per student/per year.

Call for Papers!!!While you enjoy your last few weeks of summer vacation, please take a second to look at some of the topics we'll be covering in our fall issues:

Building Wireless Schools and Classrooms

Assessment Tools and Technologies

Student Information Systems and Administrative Technologies

If you have a good story that is related to any of the above topics, please e-mail an abstract to mailto:mmiller@101com.com

2005 Educational Road Map to the Web!Order your copy of the new 2005 Educational Road Map to the Web! This year's Road Map is loaded with more than 200 educationally appropriate Web links from netTrekker (http://www.nettrekker.com), the search engine for schools, who also co-sponsored this one-of-a-kind classroom poster. Copies of the Road Map can be ordered online at http://www.thejournal.com/roadmap/

T.H.E. Offers Educators Individual netTrekker SubscriptionsT.H.E. Journal has announced an exclusive partnership with Thinkronize, developers of netTrekker, the trusted search engine for schools, which allows educators worldwide to purchase individual (single-user) subscriptions to netTrekker, which previously was available only on a site license basis to schools and districts. With this initiative, T.H.E. and Thinkronize have combined to better serve their customer's needs by personalizing the way educators use the Internet. Educators can purchase individual subscriptions for netTrekker through the T.H.E. Journal's Web site at http://www.thejournal.com/netTrekker. The suggested list price for a one-year subscription is $49.95.

Four New Integrating Technology Courses From T.H.E. InstituteT.H.E. Institute is offering four new online professional development courses to help educators comply with NCLB requirements and use technology more successfully in the classroom. The cost is $209 per course, which includes a $10 per person per course administration fee for documentation of clock hours and a certificate of completion. Course moderation and graduate credit are additional options; volume discounts are available. Anyone who enrolls in a course will receive individual access to the netTrekker site, as well as free individual access to United Learning's unitedstreaming site. For extra value, with registration for one of the above courses, participants will have access to an additional five courses - all five for only $100 - plus a $10 per person per course administration fee. In addition, special pricing is available for educators in district that have purchased Glencoe/McGraw-Hill's TechCONNECT.

Integrating Technology in the Classroom Courses: Social Studies - Available Now; Science - Available Now; English/Language Arts- Available Now; Mathematics - Available Now

Awesome Clipart for Educators offers educators FREE clipart, coloring pages, backgrounds, banners, fonts, icons, worksheets, wallpaper, and more. Choose from categories such as animals, creatures, education, holidays, just to name a few. We have thousands of graphics organized in a simple, easy to use format - categorized by type and keyword. Next time you need clipart - come to Awesome Clipart for Educators and see how easy finding clipart can be!http://www.AwesomeClipartForEducators.com

Whitepapers

Companies across the globe are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) within their organizations - 51% of firms have already implemented or are expanding their implementation of AI. An additional 20% plan to implement AI in the next 12 months. However, to ensure success and mitigate the risks, CIOs must take the lead and engage the lines of business on their AI initiatives, modernize IT, and drive the AI agenda.
Read more...